POLL/HAVE YOUR SAY: Ipswich Town star David McGoldrick set to make an £8m switch to Leicester City after being left out squad at Derby County

Ipswich Town’s star striker David McGoldrick looks set to make a big money move to newly-promoted Premier League outfit David McGoldrick after being left out of the squad for this afternoon’s match at Derby County.

It’s understood that Nigel Pearson made a £6.5m bid for the front man this week and is preparing an increased offer of around £8m before Monday’s 11pm transfer deadline.

McGoldrick, 26, scored 16 goals for the Blues last season before a medial knee ligament injury ended his campaign in mid-February. He returned to action in the latter stages of pre-season and scored in Town’s 2-1 win over Fulham on the opening weekend of the new Championship campaign.

He is currently in the final year of his contract, with a vague ‘option’ clause of extending it for another year. In the past, manager Mick McCarthy has not made it clear whether that option is the club’s or the player’s.

This summer saw Leeds United sell Ross McCormack (28 goals in the Championship last season) to Fulham for £11m and Brighton sell Leonardo Ulloa (16 goals in the Championship/FA Cup last season) to Leicester for £8m.

If McGoldrick does depart Portman Road, it would leave McCarthy’s already workmanlike and one-dimensional squad without their most dangerous and exciting player. During the summer left-back Aaron Cresswell – who was the club’s leading goal creator last season – was sold to Premier League club West Ham for an initial £3.75m and the team has lacked a creative spark during a four-game winless run.

McCarthy has put striker Frank Nouble on the transfer list and sent Paul Taylor out on loan to Rotherham. That leaves Daryl Murphy, Balint Bajner and Derby loanee Conor Sammon as striker options.

The window for permanent transfers closes at 11pm on Monday but the ‘emergency’ loan window – for 93-day deals – opens again a week later, while free agents can be added at any time.

When quizzed about his side’s lack of midfield goal threat and creative spark on Thursday, McCarthy said it was ‘too early to panic’and that he must stay level-headed after‘knee-jerk’ criticismin the wake of last weekend’s limp 1-0 home defeat to rivals Norwich City.

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This football club went downhill when the modern day businessman got involved. We have gone from one of the leading clubs in the country to being a mid-table Championship team with little progress being made year after year. The fans are being short-changed over and over again. Yes...sell McGoldrick.....but Evans needs to allow McCarthy to buy some quality players. We are fed up with an ever changing team every month and every season. Fed up with loan players and fed up with the "take it or leave it " attitude at this club !! Two or three quality players and we could probably challenge for promotion and finally start watching entertaining football more often.....

Why all the negativity on here? The talisman is recovering from a serious injury and may never be the player he (very briefly) was. IF he can be sold within the last year of his contract for what appears an extraordinary sum of money (around what 'Evans' paid for the club) then good business as they say. So what if the transfer window closes today? Julie will not be given any of the money and the loan window opens tomorrow. Offshore Investment fans have already shown they are more than happy to see their own players loaned out and somebody else's loaned in,. Get that revolving door oiled- this is progress.

OK reality check, as someone has mentioned 8m in this league you'd be silly to turn down.
Realistically are ITFC going to make the play offs? I fancied the chances of sneaking in but the performances so far have left me unconvinced and no doubt selling McGoldrick will hamper the chances, hopefully now Marriott will get a chance although I find it funny how some fans call for Marriott to play but then when an opportunity to really put his case for they are insistant we bring someone in!

The trouble with forums like this is that it invites comments from those with no grasp of the facts, or in redhotitfc's case no grasp of reality. On the face of it 8 million for the serial underachiever running down his contract is a startlingly good deal. Especially s he has never played well two seasons running and is showing signs of being half the player he was pre-injury. However what did this 'free' actually cost? What 'loyalty bonuses' will he expect for going? What is the actual fee and when will it be paid? And of course, is Evans merely selling the family silver to finance his somewhat ethereal 'empire' so the sale, as with Wickham, Walters & Creswell has no benefit to Town whatsoever. AAnd oh dear - what of the chances of Julie replacing him sensibly?

£8m is an excellent deal for a striker who has had 2 knee injuries and less than a year on his contract - I am more excited about seeing the young guns like Bru, Byner, Bishop, Mings and Hewitt come into their own this season

What a lot of nonsense so many of these posts are. We should be happy for McGoldrick that he can achieve an ambition and play in the Premier league, I certainly am. As for ME, who cares what he does with the money, I like the way MM is shaping our squad and the results will soon come..

We need to spend any money earned to build a team fit to be called Ipswich!! We have been stuck in the second league too long,we want to go up this season ,not be told we are slowly getting it right.Get some players who play with skill and passion!!

marcus evans needs to go hes selling our best players and then moans and wonders why we don't get anywhere and people its not mccarthys fault hes got no say in who goes and who stays so get off his back we will be lower table finishers this season lucky not to be relegated i reckon

I think Marcus Evans wants to sell the club. Selling the only decent striker shows a clear lack of ambition but the impact on the balance sheet will make the club look much better for a potential buyer.
Old-fashioned business advice Mr Evans: Don't get involved in an industry you don't understand...

What the heck is mr invisible (Evans) doing to this oce great team? He is such a tighta..e, we only get hand me down has beens as it is, now he is going to line his pockets with the sale of our hope of goals. Stop hiding away Evans, start showing us you care for the club by paying for players (like most successful teams) or leave! You are not wanted here.

Johnthebap, you make a strong point for change but you should realise that there are a great number of deluded watchers of the current 'hoof ball' club, parading as supporters to whom the club is everything but not willing to see they are being duped by the management ( or mismanagement) of the club.

One man doesn't make a team and we still picked up our share of points even after Mc Goldrick's injury. He is a good player and served us very well but the £8 million bid, if accurately reported, represents exceptional value for a player who is fast becoming something of a journeyman striker. Despite the wealth of comments to the contrary, I have 100% confidence in Mick McCarthy and his staff. He has vast experience; doesn't panic and for what he has done for the club in his time here deserves our credit and respect rather than so much sneering criticism. .

redhotitfc, of course I acknowledge L E Cheval posts on here to 'wind' people up and it's apparently worked in your case. However, simply because I happen to share the same views as him in respect of the owners doubtful motives in becoming owner of ITFC, does not qualify me for sharing his 'wind up' practice.
However, since you appear to have a good grasp on business and business practices it might be a good idea for you to obtain copies of ITFC balance sheets to make your own mind up on some of the glaring omissions that confirms suspicions. Also, conduct a little research into your hero's empire which I feel certain would even alarm you and perhaps make you a little ashamed to continue being part of the current ITFC club (business).
Nevertheless, you are entitled to your views, as is every other person on this site,but if you feel no shame in championing what a once great club has become then I am sorry to say "carry on deluded one" !

Didn't I tell you earlier today.
Her in doors fancies the new Porsche 4x4, so what's a guy gonna do huh?
Oh yer I know, sell that bloke who actually looks like he can play football and tell the garage she'd like it in the red if possible.
If MM calls, don't put him through.

At least one positive has come out of this in that we take no regard of what the straight talking MM ever says in the future. No one can deny that this is good business but why oh why cannot the club be honest. They are ripping the paying fans off in a ruthless manner and clearly they do not care what the fans think about the way the club is run. Well my patience and I am sure this goes for many is running very thin. In a straight talking manager style it means that I am really p****d off!

Brian no one respects or listens to cheval steroo etc because they are not town fans and are only here to cause trouble. Great to see you have finally admitted to being in the same ilk as them. Regardless of what you say or however right you are, every club would take this offer, deal with it and move along. Ipswich are a business and if people don't like the product, don't buy it. It's as simple as that.

As an independent thinker with no particular feelings for or against football or ITFC. I read all of these comments and conclude that at the VERY BOTTOM of the pile to football are the SUPPORTERS. You are there to buy tickets .... that is all. If you STOP BUYING then the clubs have to LISTEN to you.

Great return for a freebie, but every penny needs to be spent on bringing players in who have some quality. MM knew what he was saying in the paper, be more honest Ipswich Town and stop pulling the wool over the supporters eyes. Without us there is no ITFC.

Me and my missus have both had season tickets for 23 years. North stand lower, right behind the goal. But, having sold Cresswell, if we now sell McGoldrick and he is not replaced, we won't be getting them again next season. Sick of it.

I've read many messages on here and it's clear that everyone is not happy with the team.MM and the board.Whats more clear is that MM and the board have no ambition to get to the premiership.When I remember Bobby Robson and his great team everybody knew Kevin Beattie, Mick Mills, Clive Woods etc.The team now seems imedioacre compared to Bobbys team and this stems from employing the wrong managers such as Roy Keane and MM and little ambition from the board.What Ipswich need is a previous passionate Ipswich Town player who knows what the fans want and need. The board should show some ambition and offer the likes of Alan Brazil,Kevin Beattie,Mick Mills the managers job to bring back the passion and ambition back to Portman Road.

tractorboy they never said it would be spent on transfer fees, they actually said it would be invested back in to the club. That could mean anything. I happy with our lb options but we will need to replace DM. We got him on a free and sell him a year and a half later for 8M. As I said, any club would do the same, this isn't restricted to Ipswich. There's something to say about freebees and I'd like to know when we have ever gone out and spent loads of money as a club other than when ME first came in. Over the last 78 years people seem to expect ipswich to go out and spend loads. It never happened under DS and we have been a selling club for a few decades.

Dream on 'redhotitfc'. MM was promised money from Cresswell sale, it has all gone to pay wages. Same will happen if McGoldrick goes. Who is going to want to come here, even on loan and I for one am sick and tired of loan deals.

If this story is true in respect of monetary terms then a great deal. Snap up a few young fast youngsters including Forrest from Ayr United who is a great prospect. On the down side FOOTBALL is in a desperate state if you are a season ticket holder, absolutely no honesty here at all.

Season ticket holders conned into renewing; well, here's one who, if ME & MM still here next season, will not be renewing. Expect gates will plummet now. Boring football, no ambition, relegation almost a certainty.

Take 8M any day of the week. Get a loan in and utilise Marriot. Otherwise spend a little on someone from below. I'm sorry but you just cannot turn down 8M in this league. It's nothing to do with managers or owners, every single club would make this decision. We WILL need a replacement though, what we have is not good enough, I don't think so anyway.

How can selling our only proven goal scorer, a few days before the transfer window closes be any kind of good business? We wouldn't have time to get a replacement, even if any of the fee was made available, which I very much doubt

So clearly MM knew all about this yesterday when he made his ME will decide when to sell players comment. If so, why couldn't he be honest about it instead of trying to fool the fans as well as rob them.

do not sell! who are we going to get to replace him. 1st what top striker could we get that would score the goals he does and sets up play 2nd will McCarthy buy a player who can get people exited instead of another hard working player with no quality eg sammon? smith shouldn't go either he is the pin that holds the defence together. berra good but not on his own

Just starting to put a team together, no dont sell, Cresswell should not of gone either. Keep the pair of them and build for the future otherwise Mr Evans we will never see the promise land. Spend rather than sell, build a decent size squad and go for gold.

No point in selling him We have no one in our ranks who can replace him and we would not buy a player of his ability. If we did sell him, I've no doubt that the money would be paid to the club in dribs and drabs, whilst we stagnated due to a lack of quality. Let's be honest, it's not just a striker we would need to spend the money on, it's a whole new midfield as well. If Tommy goes, and we get 3 million for him, then in my opinion, that's not a bad deal. Much as I have a great deal of respect for Tommy, he lacks quality in his passing and positional play. He's a terrific work horse though, so perhaps that's what Palace see in him.

disaster if that happens. and not a sure what use a transfer kitty is if the windows closed? whats he on about. evans has to demonstrate his ambition here and not sell at any price tho 8 million is fair I guess. why did he let cresswell go for so little. as you im a realist and not stuck in the past like some but this is bad news indeed.

Well if he does go thas should tell all you ME & MM lovers what it is all about. We might then plummit down to the fourth tier of English football (where we should be currently playing) and it might force the 'Strawberries and Cream' seller to waive his paper debt and sell the club to us supporters at a price we can afford when, at least, we could start playing football the way it is meant to be played the way we always have!

I wouldn't want to lose mcgoldrick or smith as they're two of our best players and hardest triers. The former is also are most (and only!) creative player capable of putting his foot on the ball and look up. But we clearly, after the last game, need more investment in the team and £8m is a lot and if it had come at the start of the window allowing us time to spend it properly then great-but leaves very little time now and on that basis I wonder if it's worth turning it down

I wouldn't want to lose mcgoldrick or smith as they're two of our best players and hardest triers. The former is also are most (and only!) creative player capable of putting his foot on the ball and look up. But we clearly, after the last game, need more investment in the team and £8m is a lot and if it had come at the start of the window allowing us time to spend it properly then great-but leaves very little time now and on that basis I wonder if it's worth turning it down